I know several Jesuits: I attended Fordham University, Canisius College, the parish where I attend Mass during the week is a Jesuit-run parish, I have done the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, and my former spiritual director, who has gone to his reward, was a Jesuit. All of the ones I have come in contact with have adhered to the teachings of the Magisterium.
They are also incredibly brilliant men, and very skilled in critical thinking, teaching, and, particularly in the case of instructors, do not tolerate mediocre efforts. The first Jesuit professor I had was in my freshman year at Fordham, for musical theory. I had done well academically in high school, and was considered a good writer. When my first paper was returned to me, it was covered with so much red ink that one would have thought the instructor had bled on it! I learned pretty fast that you couldn’t pad papers, you couldn’t fluff your way through a course, but if you took a course from a Jesuit professor, you would learn that content so well you’d be able to recite it in your dreams.
True, back in the sixties and seventies, there were quite a few of them, particularly in Latin America, who really carried liberation theology to an extreme, some of them actually taking up arms with rebel causes (although some of the governments they rebelled against needed to be severely reformed, lest we forget that matter.) Then there was the case of Daniel Berrigan, SJ, during the Vietnam war protests. These were extremely high profile cases, and by no means included every Jesuit.
Most Jesuit priests are schooled in other areas of endeavor as well as their priestly formation. You’ll find them in just about every area of human activity, particularly the sciences, the literary arts, and even in the performing arts. Their formation includes a lot of what we laypeople would call service activity, and on-the-job training, meaning working pastorally with people in many settings. A Jesuit in formation who is studying, for example, ministry to the sick, will most likely be working for awhile as an orderly in a hospital or nursing home. He might be working as a high school teacher. Those are just a couple of examples.
My personal theory as to why some Catholics have an anti-Jesuit bent is this: Most people are very intimidated by talent, whether that is intellectual talent, or otherwise. The people with the talent that others find so intimidating will naturally draw flack. That’s simply human behavior.
Trust me, in the parish I attend during the week (near my place of employment,) the priests mince no words about sin, about deviation from the mission of the Kingdom of Heaven, and about failure to stretch one’s efforts for the greater glory of God in their homilies. No fluffy theology there! You’re also not going to get a “say three Hail Marys” as a penance in confession: You’re not going to get “yelled at,” but you are going to get some real “Dutch uncle” counsel and a penance that forces you to think. That parish is the only one I know of in my diocese that has daily (except Sunday) confession times, daily Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, and several daily Masses. Yes, they do First Friday and First Saturday devotions, as well as an ongoing Sacred Heart novena and an ongoing novena to the North American martyrs. The lunchtime and quitting time Masses are fairly well attended; I’ve never been there when there were fewer than a hundred people there. Exposition goes on all day except during Mass, and there are always at least twenty-five or so people in the church during Exposition.
They do not do the EF Mass, which is partly why I think that some who are attracted to that form are miffed about that fact.
That parish is a downtown parish, in a previously depressed area, and managed to stay alive during the lean years. Over the past eight years several hospitals in the immediate area have expanded, and expanded their research and scientific facilities as well. So the area is growing, and so is the parish. I’m very thankful about this.
